Topic 3: modelisation of LP-WPAN networks designed for tracking the contacts of mobile entities

Context

The objective of this research topic is to propose a model of wireless networks that is self-organised in order to answer the needs of tracking the activity of mobile entities.

We focus on three types of applications:

Applications that store the trajectories of mobile entities within a limited geographical area (in a medical facility, during an exhibition, etc). For example, tracking the activity inside an hospital can help users determinate the origin of a nosocomial (i.e., acquired while being treated in a hospital) infection.

Applications that simulate the process of diffusion of an information (a virus, a news, ...). The objective is to define a system that allows an experimentation or a simulation through network engineering tools. The results obtained can be compared to the analytical models existing in the field of social sciences.

Applications that try to locate humans or equipements in a confined area (such as a building or a mine). The objective here is to answer to the need of localisation when GPS equipements are not usable.

Objectives

Our scientific perspectives is to answer to the application needs by proposing a network model that is both transparent and autonomous, that is without interfering with the activity of the mobile entities. The acronym LP-WPAN (Low Power - Wireless Personal Area Network) stands for a category of personal networks designed to have a long lifetime and whose devices have a low cost. Those devices are light and small, and can be carried easily. Such devices can appear as a badge or be integrated to a mobile equipement.